Russia has responded to America's passing a new law called the Magnitski Act by hitting out at certain named Americans, forbidding them from entering Russian soil.

Moscow will ban any American who has violated human rights, a direct response to the Act which seeks to punish Russian officials linked to the death in custody of lawyer Sergei Magnitski.

"We in Russia believe that this law is an anti-Russian one, because out of hundreds and thousands of cases when people died in jails the United States and the U.S. Congress choose one specific case and make a law out of it. It is clear this is all directed against Russia," insisted the Duma's, (Russia's parliament), International Affairs Committee Chairman Alexei Pushkov.

Moscow's human rights record is being scrutinised after several journalists, lawyers and opponents of the regime died suspiciously.

"You know, I think this is all just games which politicians play. And probably there is some meaning behind it, but I think this is all just political games," said one Muscovite.

The US Congress passed the Magnitski bill late on Thursday targeting those implicated in his death, and any Russian official found guilty of human rights abuses. Their assets can also be frozen. The decision was slammed as an "absurd piece of theatre" by the Russian Foreign ministry.